Growing up with her grandmother in Beijing, Dou Jingtong has been exposed to a variety of music since childhood. At age 1, her voice was featured in her mother's song Tong, which her parents wrote for her birth. In 1999, she sang in Wong's title track of the album Lovers & Strangers. When she released her first guitar-driven song, With You, on the Web in 2012, the videos attracted millions of views.
In 2016 Dou Jingtong released her debut full-length album, Stone Cafe, which was warmly received. Most of her songs, most of which she writes herself, are performed in a silky voice in English in a style that mixes electronic, alternative rock and other elements.
Eighteen months after releasing the debut album, Dou Jingtong dropped her second one, Kids Only, further showcasing her musical personality.
"It always starts with my life outside music and my experiences of being in the world. The writing process is fairly smooth. With each project I focus on a particular sector and I learn something new. I think the most rewarding thing about songwriting is that I have an outlet, and through music I think I learn about myself and many other things.
"Something I feel very happy and grateful about is that I'm starting to feel a lot more comfortable in my own skin. There are moments where I will get sucked into the feedback vortex and then be reminded that it is on the path on which I walk that my eyes should be."
chennan@chinadaily.com.cn
